HOW TO STOP US ALLOWING POISONS IN ICE CREAM?

Would you feed your child yogurt or ice cream contaminated with an herbicide so bad it was banned in Europe more than a decade ago? 

Not knowingly, of course. But unknowingly, you may be doing just that.

Can you make a donation today to help us expose the poisons in our food and start a #ConsumerRevolution to clean up our food supply? You can donate online, by check or by mail, details here.

A few weeks ago, we ran an article at the top of our weekly newsletter that should have alarmed everyone who read it.

In case you missed it, the gist of the story was this: Dairy cows in Vermont eat a diet of GMO corn sprayed with, among other poisons, atrazine—a chemical the EPA says is unsafe at any level.

We're not talking small amounts here. Between 1999 to 2012, Vermont’s dairy farmers applied more than 2,533,329 pounds of metolachlor, atrazine and simazine to their cornfields.

All three of these chemicals are classified as  “probable” human carcinogens, known endocrine disruptors, and birth defect progenitors.

All three of these chemicals are poisoning Vermont’s waterways. 

Are these dangerous chemicals also poisoning the milk, cheese, ice cream and yogurt made from cows fed GMO corn?

With your help, we aim to find out. 

We've started testing dairy products made not only in Vermont, but in other states where atrazine is sprayed on GMO crops.

Can you make a donation today to help us expose the poisons in our food and start a #ConsumerRevolution to clean up our food supply? You can donate online, by check or by mail, details here.

It’s high time you knew the truth about the poisons in your food. Once you do, we believe you’ll join the growing army of consumers who will ultimately force food corporations to clean up their acts.

That’s why OCA is now involved in five lawsuits against companies that falsely label their products “organic” or “100% natural,” when in fact they aren’t.

And it’s why we are now testing a wide variety of foods for not just glyphosate, but also for atrazine, metolachlor, simazine, growth hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals and substances that humans were never intended to eat.

Let’s not kid ourselves. The battle for labels on GMO foods was as much about getting cancer-causing chemicals like glyphosate out of our food, as it was about labeling GMOs.

If the GMO labeling fight taught us anything, it’s that politicians and U.S. regulatory agencies work to protect corporate profits, not us.

We will lobby hard to get glyphosate, atrazine and other chemicals banned.

But I believe that ultimately, it will take a #ConsumerRevolution to get these poisons off the market. We must first identify the foods that are contaminated. Then educate the public and mass media. Then mobilize boycotts.

Over the coming months, as we test foods for poisons like glyphosate and atrazine, we'll need your help to launch massive boycotts.

Right now, we need your help to fund this work.

We still need to raise about $165,000 to reach our goal of $200,000 bymidnight September 16. Can you make a donation today? You can donate online, by check or by mail, details here.

Thank you!

In solidarity,

Ronnie Cummins
International Director

P.S. Atrazine is the second most commonly used herbicide in the U.S. It’s widely used to combat weeds on golf courses, residential lawns and Christmas tree farms. It’s also used on half of all corn grown in the U.S. That means it's in our food. Donate online here.

SUING THE LYING LIARS WHO SELL US "NATURAL FOODS"

"100% Natural" Weed Killer?

Dear K,

You’ve heard a lot in the past few years about consumers’ right to know about GMOs. And believe me when I say that battle is not over yet.

But what about your "right to know" about irradiated synthetic ingredients in “organic” baby formula?  Or about Monsanto’s glyphosate in “100% Whole Grain” Shredded Wheat and “100% Natural” Nature Valley granola bars?

And shouldn't you have the "right to know" if the eggs you bought that had a "pasture-raised" label on them actually came from chickens that never spent a day outdoors, much less on a pasture?

Food manufacturers are lying to you. Every day.

That’s why the OCA is behind five lawsuits against food companies—and why we will soon announce several more.

Can you help support this work by donating to our fall online fundraising campaign? We need to raise $200,000 by midnight,September 16, to meet our budget and keep these, and future, lawsuits going. You can donate online, by check or by mail, details here.

Junk food makers spend millions of dollars studying consumer preferences. They know what you want—and what you don't want.

They know you don’t want food full of pesticides and hormones and other toxic chemicals. They know you care about the environment, about the welfare of farmers, and about the way animals raised for food are treated.

But rather than produce the food consumers want, companies like General Mills, Post, Earth’s Best, Handsome Brook—even a company that calls itself The Honest Co.!—use false and misleading labels to trick you into thinking you’re buying the food you want. 

And then they charge you a premium for it!

On Monday this week, we announced our latest lawsuit, against Handsome Brook Farm. This egg producer was started by a husband and wife, on a “bucolic” farm in New York, according to a recent article in Forbes. When the company started out, its eggs probably came from “pasture-raised” chickens.

But like a lot of small companies, Handsome Brook has grown. According to Forbes, the company has contracts with 75 farms in six states, and its eggs are sold in more than 4500 stores—including Kroger, Publix, Wegmans and Sprouts Farmers Market. 

Handsome Brook still labels its eggs “pasture-raised.” But it’s not true. And by lying about it, Handsome Brook is cheating you, and its competitors—those companies that are doing the right thing.

We’ve also recently sued Post Holdings (maker of Shredded Wheat), and General Mills and its subsidiary, Nature Valley, for claiming that their products that test positive for Monsanto’s glyphosate are “100% natural.”

In April, we sued two baby formula makers—The Honest Co. and Earth’s Best—for stating that some of their infant formula brands are “organic” when they in fact contain ingredients not allowed under federal organic standards.

Last month, we forced Colgate-Palmolive to take down a webpage that intentionally misled consumers into thinking Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, owned by Colgate, was organic. Fortunately, we didn’t need to sue—one letter from our attorney was enough to end the deception.

I’m not personally a big fan of lawyers and courts. But I believe you deserve the truth about what you’re buying.

If Big Food companies refuse to label properly, OCA will sue them.

These lawsuits won’t bring in money for OCA, that’s not why we’re doing this. Our goal is to force companies to stop lying to you. And we need your help to do it.

Please help support this work by donating to our fall online fundraising campaign. We need to raise $200,000 by midnight, September 16, to meet our budget and keep these, and future, lawsuits going. You can donate online, by check or by mail, details here.

Thank you!

In solidarity,

Ronnie Cummins
International Director

P.S. We must bring down the factory farm system. Less than 25 percent of GMO crops go into non-organic processed food. The overwhelming majority are used to make animal feed and ethanol. Factory farms are polluting our  water and air, abusing animals, treating workers unfairly, creating an antibiotic-resistant public health crisis and producing food that makes us sick. Please support this important work!  Donate online here.